


Overwhelmed

by Stillreadingfanfictbh



Series: Larry One Shots [15]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Anxiety Attacks, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, a little bit of, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:08:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24829597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stillreadingfanfictbh/pseuds/Stillreadingfanfictbh
Summary: Harry just gets overwhelmed, but sometimes it's worse than normal
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Series: Larry One Shots [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2162739
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	Overwhelmed

**Author's Note:**

> TW for anxiety attacks if this can even be considered that

Sometimes Harry got really annoyed, not annoyed necessarily, but he sometimes couldn't stand to be around people and around sound. Every little thing just made him itch, it made him want to scream, and yell at the thing causing the noise. Harry just gets overwhelmed, and it happens a lot when he's a little down. Things like Niall eating chips or Louis sneezing just makes him want to yell at them, then crawl in a soundless, dark hole.

The tour bus is the worst place to be when Harry feels like this. All the boys are doing their own thing, but they are in a confined space and Harry can just hear everything. He hears stuff banging around in the cabinet, he hears Liam scratching his thigh through his jeans, he hears Louis humming and there is nothing Harry can do to stop the noises. He tries listening to music, but he still focuses on the sounds he can hear through the earbuds and he gets a headache. The best thing to do is a nap, but when he is overwhelmed like that it's even hard to do that.

The boys know that he gets unreasonably annoyed sometimes, usually when he's depressed. They try to do anything they can to make him more comfortable when Harry is overwhelmed, but he tends to get a bit bitchy and it ends up making the whole band get annoyed.

But Harry has been laying on the small couch in their tour bus for the better part of an hour and he feels like he's going to scream. Louis is tapping away on his phone right next to him, and Liam is in the back talking to his family and laughing too much, the curtains on the front window of the bus keep hitting something, and Niall won't stop fucking crinkling the chip bag. Harry isn't sure that he has felt like this before, usually, he isn't this overwhelmed by the sounds but right now Harry wants to cry and tear his hair out.

Harry blames it on the stressful week they've had. On tour, it's always stressful, but this week they played three shows in one arena, which means a lot of interviews and photoshoots planned in one city. The schedule is crazy and the boys finally got on the bus to head to the next city.

Harry holds his hands over his ears trying to down put the sounds but nothing works. Harry's head starts pounding and Niall is still fucking crinkling the chip bag.

Louis finally stops tapping on his phone when he hears Harry sniffle and gasp. He looks over at him, curled up against the arm of the couch, and immediately becomes concerned. Harry's eyes are squished shut and his hands are covering his ears, and his knees are pressed up against his chest.

Louis reaches out his hand to touch Harry's arm and asks, "Haz, are you okay?"

Louis touch burns. Harry whispers, "don-don't touch me. Please don't."

Harry cry's more now. It's never been so bad that it hurt to be touch. He felt like even his sweater was too itchy, Harry scratches at his arms and attempts to take of his sweater.

"Harry, seriously." Louis says voice sounds a little shaky, "what's wrong?"

"Shh." Harry cries it's all too much. He can't even speak in normal sentences. "shut up, please!"

This catches the attention of the rest of the bus, Niall stops eating his chips and wipes his hands on his pants. Liam hangs up his call and walks towards the front of the bus.

"What's going on?" Liam asks Louis.

Louis shakes his head, he doesn't know.

"Don't talk," Harry says. They are talking too much, he just wants all the noise to stop. "stop, stop."

"Uhm," Niall says, "maybe we should stop the bus."

"Please," Harry says he doesn't know if the boys know that he was actually replying to Niall. Maybe when the bus stops the curtain will stop hitting the window.

Niall goes to the front of the bus to tell Jeff to pull over.

"Harry please tell me what's wrong," Louis says. Harry keeps scratching at his arms and stomach he just feels like everything is burning. Louis grabs one of Harry's hands in an attempt to stop the scratching. Harry lets out a loud sob as soon as Louis touches him so he lets go.

Jeff pulls over at a gas station and turns off the engine.

Louis uselessly stares at Harry. He has no idea what to do or how to comfort him. Harry stops scratching and puts his hands at his ears again then shuts his eyes.

Harry's breathing is crazy, so Louis says, "Haz, focus on breathing."

Harry nods, he gasps and holds his breath for a bit then gasp again. He tries breathing through his nose and out his mouth. Focusing on breathing takes off his focus on the noise.

After a bit, Harry's tears dry up and his breathing is back to normal. He rubs at his face. He still feels a bit overwhelmed but it's not so bad.

When the boys notice that he seems better they breathe a sigh of relief.

Harry clears his throat and says, "can someone get me some Tylenol, please."

Niall grabs the Tylenol bottle and a bottle of water quickly. He gets two pills out of the bottle and hands them to Harry, then opens the water bottle and also hands it to him. Harry swallows them quickly.

Louis is crying. He is trying not to make is obvious, but Harry knows his Louis.

"What the hell was that?" Liam asks, "are you okay?"

Honestly, Harry feels fine now. But just a second ago he was so scared, he felt like his brain was going to start leaking out of his ears and that his skin was going to flake away. He never wants to feel that again.

"I just got overwhelmed." Harry says, "I'm sorry. I don't know why it was so bad. I'm sorry."

The boys can tell that Harry doesn't really want to talk about it. So Liam and Niall just leave it.

"Can I touch you now, Haz?" Louis whispers, his voice cracks a little.

Harry nods and pulls Louis into a hug, Louis cry's into Harry's neck. "You scared me so much."

"I know." Harry says, "I'm sorry."

They hold each other until Louis stops crying.

"Maybe we should go to bed," Harry says he is honestly exhausted.

Louis nods and they walk to the back of the bus and get into Harry's bunk. Louis is pushed up against the wall and he spoons Harry.

"What was that, Harry?" Louis asks once they are both comfortable under the covers.

"I don't know how to explain it." Harry says, "I just got super overwhelmed by all the sounds and everything. That happens sometimes and usually, I'm fine, but this time it was so bad. It was scary."

Louis pulls Harry closer, "maybe you should talk to someone about it. A doctor or a shrink or something."

Harry doesn't say anything. He wants to agree with Louis, but he isn't sure if this is a big deal. If it's something worth worrying about.

"I couldn't help you, Harry." Louis says, "I didn't know how to help you I felt so useless. I couldn't even touch you. You were in so much pain, I could tell, and I didn't know how to help you through it. I don't want to see you like that again."

"I don't want to be like that again." Harry whispers, "I'll talk to someone about it, Lou, but right now I just wanna sleep."

Louis nods and pushes his head further into the pillow next to Harry's.

The next day, after hearing about Harry's episode, management sets Harry up with a doctor and a psychologist. The other boys have a busy day of interviews before their show. Management cancels Harry's interviews so he can go to the doctors.

He spends two hours with the doctor and psychologist before he finally leaves. But at least he leaves with an idea of what happened. Harry immediately goes to the arena they are playing at that night so he can explain to the boys what happened. The boys were just sprawled out waiting for the team to finish setting up so they could do the soundcheck.

The boys hear Harry walk in so they put their full attention on him. Harry kind of blushes under their stares and sits next to Louis.

"So do they know what happened yesterday?" Louis asks.

"Uh, yeah, they said that it was, like extreme sensory overload." Harry says, "like, all of my senses were trying to process too many things at once so my brain just started like going crazy."

"Will it happen again?" Louis asks, "can you, like, cure it?"

"Well, there isn't necessarily a cure." Harry says, "It happens when I'm stressed or depressed, so I'm supposed to keep my stress in check and if I feel like it is starting to happen I need to take myself out of the situation and be alone for a bit."

"What if you can't take yourself out of the situation?" Liam says, "like yesterday, it's not like you could have just jumped off the bus or something."

"They said that they could prescribe me some anxiety pills that are known to help in those situations," Harry says hesitantly, he really doesn't like taking a lot of medication. When he was younger he was told that he should take anti-depressants. He was always so against stuff like that.

Louis sighs, "you told them not to?"

Harry nods, "if, like, I have another major episode like yesterday I'll consider it, but I don't think something like that will happen again."

The others don't say anything because they are forced on stage for soundcheck.

-

It turns out it does happen again two weeks later. It started during an interview, all his clothes became itchy and the interviewer was a mouth breather, which really irritated him. Louis was the first to notice it, Harry began scratching his arm. Louis did his best to end the interview early, so Harry could go back to the hotel. A car picked up the boys twenty minutes later, and Harry started crying right when he got into the car. The boys did their best to decrease the noise in the car, but that didn't stop the vibration of the car on the road or the squeaking of the breaks.

Fans are collected outside their hotel screaming, and Harry starts sobbing. The boys and security do their best to cover Harry so no one sees him. Harry has his hands pressed against his ears and sunglasses covering his eyes.

Louis and Harry share a hotel room, so Louis helps Harry to the room. Harry strips right away. His clothes are too itchy.

"So you want me to stay, Haz?" Louis asks softly.

Harry shakes his head, "no, no. Wait, yes stay. But far away. Over there."

Harry points to the sofa on the other side of the room. Now Harry is naked and curled in a ball on a soft blanket on the bed.

It's an hour before Harry calms down and goes to sleep. When Louis sees that Harry is asleep he covers him up with a blanket and lays next to him. Louis text the boys to tell him that Harry is fine and he's taking a nap.

Louis sets an alarm on his phone for an hour, then falls asleep himself.

Harry ends up waking up before Louis. He crawls over Louis and gets dressed. Harry gets his face wash and toothbrush out of his bag then goes to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. From the bathroom, Harry hears Louis alarm and he hears Louis shuffling out of bed.

Harry is still brushing his teeth when Louis walks into the bathroom and gives Harry a hug from behind. Harry leans against Louis before pulling away to spit into the sink and rinse out his mouth. When he's done he turns around and gives Louis a kiss.

Louis kisses back then pulls away from the kiss. His forehead is pressed against Harry's when he says, "you scared me."

"I know," Harry says back. He sighs and pulls away, he wraps his arms around himself and says, "you want me to take those pills."

Louis nods, "maybe it's what's best for you, Haz. Plus, you only have to take them when you feel overwhelmed. It doesn't have to be an everyday thing."

Harry sighs but nods, "I'll talk to my doctor about it."

Louis pulls Harry into a hug, "I just want you to be happy and comfortable always. And I hate not being able to help you and comfort you when you're like that."

Harry lets Louis hug him for a while until they need to go to the arena.

Everything is better from there, Harry goes to his doctor and gets the anxiety meds. They do help a lot, so Harry has had less extreme sensory overloads. Everything gets better eventually it just takes time.

end.


End file.
